M17 Swan Nebula

Constellation: Sagittarius        Distance: 5000 lightyears

Swan Nebula

Click for medium resolution (2000 x 1543)

M17 heeft vele namen. Naast Zwaannevel wordt dit stervormingsgebied ook wel Omeganevel of Horseshoenevel genoemd. De nevel staat vlakbij de Adelaarnevel, in de Sagittariusarm van onze Melkweg. M17 wordt verlicht door de sterrenhoop NGC6618. In de kern van deze sterrenhoop staan circa 100 zeer zware, jonge sterren, die echter schuilgaan achter stofwolken op de voorgrond.


Image spcefications:
  • Exposure: 5 hours, LRGB = 210:30:30:30 minutes
  • Camera: SBIG ST-8300M, Temp -15 ° C, Baader LRGB filters
  • Instrument: TEC 140 with field flattener, focal distance 980 mm
  • Mount: Losmandy G11
  • Guiding: TS Off Axisguider, Starlight Xpress Lodestar autoguider and PHD
  • Location: Puimichel, France
  • Sky Quality Meter: 21,21
  • Temperature Ambient: between 20° C and 24° C
  • Date: 22, 23 and 24 august 2011

Image acquisition with ImagesPlus 4.0 Camera Control (all at -15° C) with dither:
  • 21 Luminance of 10 min, binned 1x1
  • 6 Red + 6 Green + 6 Blue of 5 min, binned 2x2
  • 20 Flat fields per channel with Aurora Flatfield panel
    • At home, camera in fridge:
  • 20 Dark frames of 10 min + 20 Dark frames of 5 min
  • 20 Flat darks (per channel) + 20 Bias frames

Processing in ImagesPlus 3.82:
  • Automatic Image Set Processing per channel: calibrate, normalize, grade
  • Align and combine (Min Max Excluded Average)
  • Digital Development (DDP)

Processing in Registar:
  • Align and combine Red, Green and Blue results
  • Align Luminance and RGB

Processing in Photoshop CS3:
  • Combine Luminance and RGB with Lab Color (Split RGB and Combine Lum, a, b)
  • Curves
  • Levels
  • Layer mask
  • Color Balance
  • Plugin: Hasta La Vista